" One of the more primitive limbic system nuclei is the hypothalamus, which mediates the expression of intense, rudimentary, and transient motivational states. It controls the desire to eat, drink, attack, or engage in sex, with sexuality and pleasure as its utmost concern (Joseph 112).
More recently evolved and associated with spirituality is the amygdala. This limbic system nucleus enables humans to "hear sweet sounds, recall bitter memories, or determine if something is spiritually significant, sexually enticing, or good to eat" (Joseph 112). In addition, it makes it possible to experience the spiritually sublime, as well as to store affective experiences in memory. An individual can then re-experience them "while awake or during the course of a dream in the form of visual, auditory, or religious and spiritual imagery" (Joseph 113).
When working in conjunction with the hippocampus and temporal lobe, the amygdala contributes to the production of mental phenomena including dreamlike recollections of threatening men, naked women, sexual intercourse, and the experience of a higher being. Furthermore, stimulation of the amygdala and temporal lobe often results in emotions of extreme peace and clairvoyance (Joseph 113). Activation of the amygdala is also associated with auditory hallucinations, which could logically include hearing the voice of "God" (Parker 32). .
When the amygdala, along with the hippocampus and temporal lobe, undergoes intense activation, religious and spiritual experiences often arise. Following abnormal activation or stimulation, some individuals report that they have communicated with spirits or received profound knowledge from the spiritual world (Joseph 113). Additionally, common methods of attaining states of religious and spiritual awareness such as "isolation, food and water deprivation, increased or decreased sexual activity, pain, drug use, self-mutilation, prayer, and meditation" result in the depletion of serotonin and other neurotransmitters (Joseph 129).
